Warlock Best spec per encounter

[Teye]

Went back and read this thread, and had a really good laugh at some of the people telling Zum that Destro isn't viable for a single fight in the entire tier.

[Bonkura]

All specs are good for that fight. Just go for the one you're most comfortable with playing.

[fiestatastic]

serious lol at the first few posts, so many lazy warlocks that just don't want to put the effort into demo. Affliction is without a doubt the top spec for most fights, but demo beats all other classes / specs for wind lord, and beats affliction by miles (which probably isn't even the 10th best spec for wind lord). Demo is flat out better for h feng also, it's not situational, just because you have a high enough ilvl to "get by" on the fight and not suck / cause a wipe because you're lazy doesn't mean it's a superior spec.

Not going to lie, I usually play aff on every fight because I'm lazy too, but demo obviously outperforms aff on fights with adds for the people willing to put the effort into it, and not by a small margin.

[Moggie]

serious lol at the first few posts, so many lazy warlocks that just don't want to put the effort into demo. Affliction is without a doubt the top spec for most fights, but demo beats all other classes / specs for wind lord, and beats affliction by miles (which probably isn't even the 10th best spec for wind lord). Demo is flat out better for h feng also, it's not situational, just because you have a high enough ilvl to "get by" on the fight and not suck / cause a wipe because you're lazy doesn't mean it's a superior spec.

Not going to lie, I usually play aff on every fight because I'm lazy too, but demo obviously outperforms aff on fights with adds for the people willing to put the effort into it, and not by a small margin.

Demo and Aff are basically even on Wind Lord. (always have been usually) Aff is currently owning Demo on H Feng. So...wut?

[eldritchforeshadow]

I am going to be leveling my Warlock soon and I find all three specs to be not only fun but they kick-ass too. I like Affliction and Destruction but Love Demonology.

[Bonkura]

serious lol at the first few posts, so many lazy warlocks that just don't want to put the effort into demo. Affliction is without a doubt the top spec for most fights, but demo beats all other classes / specs for wind lord, and beats affliction by miles (which probably isn't even the 10th best spec for wind lord). Demo is flat out better for h feng also, it's not situational, just because you have a high enough ilvl to "get by" on the fight and not suck / cause a wipe because you're lazy doesn't mean it's a superior spec.

Not going to lie, I usually play aff on every fight because I'm lazy too, but demo obviously outperforms aff on fights with adds for the people willing to put the effort into it, and not by a small margin.

The problem with Demo on Wind Lord is that you have to be in melee range for Immolation Aura because it's easy to break CC's if you go for Mannoroth's Fury and then you might spread poop on the floor with the debuff or drop a bomb on the raid. During progress this might become a big issue for your raid so I would never recommend anyone to go Demo over Affliction for this fight if you don't have a strategy that handles what you're doing to the raid.

Also, lol, you can't say Demo is better on all fight with adds. Heroic Will is a great example. And SoC is fucking great on Feng if you do it properly and bring the boss to the raid after he has dropped the shield.

[Deatheryn]

I myself enjoy the way Destruction plays a bit over Affliction but have both and enjoy both. I am willing to play Aff for the good of the group if that extra dps is what's needed to overcome an encounter.
Aff. 9/10 times can produce higher numbers if played correctly but is more difficult to play than the other 2 specs. Some ppl just aren't able to pay attention to the amount of information at once that is required in order to play Aff. to it full potential. So, they choose to play Destro., or Demo and produce better numbers as a result.

My best advice is that if you aren't good at processing a lot of information and reacting to it along with what is happening in the game world then you will likely fail at playing Affliction. It is a heavy DOT class w/ many DOTs that have short durations. DOT classes aren't for everyone and not everyone can produce the numbers even close to the ones from sims ultimately hurting their raid more by attempting to play Aff.

[Xyronic]

The problem with Demo on Wind Lord is that you have to be in melee range for Immolation Aura because it's easy to break CC's if you go for Mannoroth's Fury and then you might spread poop on the floor with the debuff or drop a bomb on the raid. During progress this might become a big issue for your raid so I would never recommend anyone to go Demo over Affliction for this fight if you don't have a strategy that handles what you're doing to the raid.

Also, lol, you can't say Demo is better on all fight with adds. Heroic Will is a great example. And SoC is fucking great on Feng if you do it properly and bring the boss to the raid after he has dropped the shield.

If this is the case, your strat for this fight isn't very condusive to dpsing. Try just ccing the 3 trappers. Makes the fight much, much easier.

[Gratlim]

I perform best as destro. Topping on Feng even. But then again I do not like what they did to affliction gameplaywise and destro rotation is so simple that it makes my output on patchwerk style fight much higher as Destro. There is sadly too much cleave / too little patchwerk fights to make destro sim higher than affli, hence giving it a bad status among bandwagonners.

Nice boost to destro on 5.2 ptr though. This and green fire!

[Zevoa]

Generally, I preform best playing Demonology. It is my prefered specialisation and I am a great fan of the extra utility it brings in comparison to Affliction.

My choice per encounter is generally:
Stone Guard - Demo
Feng - Demo
Gara'jal - Aff
Spirit Kings - Demo
Elegon - Aff
Will - Aff (Demo if comp needs it)
Vizier - Demo
Blade Lord - Demo
Garalon - Demo
Wind Lord - Demo
Amber-Shaper - Demo
Empress - Demo
Protectors - Aff
Tsulong - Demo
Lei Shi - Demo
Sha - Demo

[Bonkura]

If this is the case, your strat for this fight isn't very condusive to dpsing. Try just ccing the 3 trappers. Makes the fight much, much easier.

It took us like 2 hours to get the boss down first time so it's not like the fight is hard to begin with. From what I remember it was close to impossible for our healers to handle a triple hit from blademasters during some circumstances, so we decided to go for two trappers and a blademaster. It felt more important to save the combat res for a tank.

[Raqu]

It took us like 2 hours to get the boss down first time so it's not like the fight is hard to begin with. From what I remember it was close to impossible for our healers to handle a triple hit from blademasters during some circumstances, so we decided to go for two trappers and a blademaster. It felt more important to save the combat res for a tank.

Defensive CDs? We downed the boss on our 4th try and I must say the triple blademaster strikes were nothing. I could soak one as a warlock with GoSac/SL + bulwark. Our dispellers just needed to make sure none of the blademasters had any buffs to up the kor'thik strikes dmg.

[Medieve]

Defensive CDs? We downed the boss on our 4th try and I must say the triple blademaster strikes were nothing. I could soak one as a warlock with GoSac/SL + bulwark. Our dispellers just needed to make sure none of the blademasters had any buffs to up the kor'thik strikes dmg.

Well, I PERSONALLY, as a Lock, had no problem with the triple storms, but some of the classes without access to as many stacking buffs as I do had a bit more trouble. We trapped one instead. Incredibly easy after that, and far, far more room for error.

[Teye]

It took us like 2 hours to get the boss down first time so it's not like the fight is hard to begin with. From what I remember it was close to impossible for our healers to handle a triple hit from blademasters during some circumstances, so we decided to go for two trappers and a blademaster. It felt more important to save the combat res for a tank.

As long as the Blade Masters get dispelled and have Weakened Blows, they deal 432k damage total, which is then mitigated by Armor. Worst case scenario, they target a healing Priest. (No mitigation CD, and only the Armor boost from Inner Fire) An Ilvl 465 Priest alt from my guild has 12.7k armor which is a 21.5% damage reduction. Without the 60% boost from Inner Fire, they only take 339k damage, which anyone could survive if topped off. With a Priest bubble and the added 60% armor, that would be laughable.

The strikes are a joke if your dispellers take care of the Blade Masters and your tanks keep Weakened Blows up.

[Bonkura]

10-man. That is all.

[Teye]

10-man. That is all.

What are you saying? That the numbers I gave are 10 man numbers? They're 25 Heroic. Are you saying you're 10 man? Then cut 50k off of the damage, making it even easier to survive. Don't have the dispels because you're 10 man? I'll bet my ass your comp does, even if you don't realize it.

[Scathbais]

Generally, I preform best playing Demonology. It is my prefered specialisation and I am a great fan of the extra utility it brings in comparison to Affliction.

My choice per encounter is generally:
Stone Guard - Demo
Feng - Demo
Gara'jal - Aff
Spirit Kings - Demo
Elegon - Aff
Will - Aff (Demo if comp needs it)
Vizier - Demo
Blade Lord - Demo
Garalon - Demo
Wind Lord - Demo
Amber-Shaper - Demo
Empress - Demo
Protectors - Aff
Tsulong - Demo
Lei Shi - Demo
Sha - Demo

^Now this is how I pictured this particular thread playing out.
Here is mine (between Destro and Affliction):

H Stone Guard - Destro
H Feng - toss up
H Gara'jal - Destro
H Spirit Kings - Affliction
H Elegon - Destro
H Will - Affliction for glyphed CofEx
N Vizier - Affliction (haven't done on heroic yet)
H Blade Lord - Affliction (being able to channel while running away is killer)
N Garalon - Destro (will be doing as destro on heroic this week)
H Wind Lord - Destro
N Amber-Shaper - Destro
N Empress - Affliction
N Protectors - Destro
N Tsulong - Destro
N Lei Shi - Destro
N Sha - Destro

[Bonkura]

What are you saying? That the numbers I gave are 10 man numbers? They're 25 Heroic. Are you saying you're 10 man? Then cut 50k off of the damage, making it even easier to survive. Don't have the dispels because you're 10 man? I'll bet my ass your comp does, even if you don't realize it.

Hey Mr. Hindsight, thanks for trying to teach me an encounter that was relevant 3 months ago.


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[TheEaterofSouls]

Destro is one of the funnest specs I have played. Our guild managed to clear 10man MSV with me running destro. Affli is complex. As a newbie raider I recommend trying Destro for your first clear if your guild allows it. It gives you more momentum to focus on MECHANICS. Affli has ALOT to manage and takes more practice. Sure it pulls more numbers but if you give it your all you should be able to run a normal with any spec you want.

The people running our progression may not have the same mindset as yours. If you have a good amount of experience and gear I would say play what you want as long as your not hindering your groups progression or your DPS is performing 100% to where it's at. However, you should give all specs a try. You may be put into a position where the top spec is necessary. Don't let yourself get cocky with your favorite spec. But at the same you shouldn't be playing something your uncomfortable with. Put your best effort forward and practice, practice, practice and you'll be fine.
Please note that not all guilds give you leeway like this. they may force you into a spec you don't like. Just practice all of them or find a different group of people.

"As long as you're putting your best effort forward, you should be fine. Don't do something that may discourage you from playing the game. Practice and show you can improve to the best of the games limitations and you'll be fine."

[Teye]

Hey Mr. Hindsight, thanks for trying to teach me an encounter that was relevant 3 months ago.

Hey, thanks for getting mad because I corrected you on something that you were so adamant was "impossible".


Infracted